Why now?
by dunno why this is here
Summary: Kankuten. Kankuro was getting sick of waiting for the invasion to start.
1. Chapter 1

I've been reading kankuten, so I decide to write my own. Had the story in my head, anyway.

Yeah, the chapters in this are going to be fairly short. So sorry about that

I don't own Naruto

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Kankuro walked down the street, bored. The invasion was still over a week away. And until that time, he was stuck here. He had been ready for this since he left Suna, and now that the first three stages were done, everything was going as it should. He had expected that. But he hadn't expected this gap to feel so LONG. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that him and Temari were under orders not to train, so that they could keep as much of their abilities a secret as possible. Or something like that, anyway. He didn't really pay as much attention as he should have during Baki's lecture. Or 'meeting' as it was officially called. Either way, he was now stuck in a soon-to-be-dead village, with nothing to do, and with no idea of where to go.

Eventually, he found what appeared to be an actual useful store; the weapon shop. He walked in because, basically, there was nothing better to do. He went over to the oddly-familiar girl behind a counter. He could swear he had seen her before. It hit him pretty suddenly; there weren't that many people he had ever met whose hair was in two buns. He couldn't come up with a name, though.

"So, where's the actual decent equipment?" He asked, not entirely lying. To him, anything that didn't fit in a puppet was pretty useless.

Most people he had ever met would probably have made some form of insult at that point. The girl, however, seemed unphased by his comment. "Puppetry equipment should be over there." She said, pointing towards a far wall. "If not, then we could probably get some in the next shipment. I guess you aren't staying long enough for that, though."

Kankuro started to walk towards the area she pointed out, when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Temari. 'Damn, she found out already?'

He was supposed to have been watching Gaara to make sure that he didn't kill everyone before everything was ready, but he decided not to. If Gaara wanted someone to die, than someone was gonna die. And whether or not his brother was there wouldn't have any effect on that. So he figured it was pointless and left. Of course, Temari would be, and was, pissed. She still didn't see him, but he still wanted to make sure it stayed that way, and did the first thing that popped in his head in this kinda situation; hide. He leapt over the counter, landing next to the now-startled employee.

"What the HELL are you doing!?" She shouted. If Temari wasn't going to check here before, she definitely would now. There was no way she didn't hear that.

"Please, just cover for me." The girl was confused, until the door opened. She turned, seeing an angry Temari pass though the doorway directly towards the counter.

"Hey, you, weapon girl. Tenten. Have you seen that baka around here." She demanded. Tenten just looked at her for a minute. She tried to piece things together, but still had no idea what was going on. Still, she knew that if helping the guy next to her would bother Temari, she would gladly take the opportunity. It wasn't the kind of revenge she was planning on, but she still didn't want to help her out.

"Sorry, what baka?" She said, sounding confused.

"Kankuro. He's the only guy wearing makeup. My brother. Nearly killed one of you guys in the exam."

"No, haven't seen him."

Temari looked at her for a second. Something seemed off about the girl, but she couldn't think of what. So, she left. Kankuro stayed perfectly still behind the counter.

"You know, she's gone now." Said Tenten, still looking straight towards the door.

Kankuro climbed back over the counter. He turned around, a bit confused. "So, why do you work here if you're a ninja?"

She laughed a bit to herself before answering. "Do you have any idea how many weapons I go through? I can't afford that on a genin's salary, so I work here during my off hours, and then I get a discount. Also, I get first pick at the new items as they come in." He nodded. "Oh, by the way, you owe me now."

He was expecting that. After all, it's not like he knew well enough for her to do him a favor or anything. And besides, how bad could it be? "Alright, what do I owe you?"

"Well..." She thought on how carefully about how to word this. A wrong move wouldn't end well. "Mind showing me your puppets? I was considering using them, so seeing one in action again would help. Of course, I could just go and get Temari. She really seemed to want to talk to you." He smirked.

"Fine, I'll show off for a few minutes. When do you get to leave?"

"Anytime. Like I said, I only work here during my off hours." She walked around the counter next to Kankuro before hollering deeper into the store. "I'm off." She walked off before whoever she was yelling towards could answer, followed by the puppeteer.

'With any luck, Temari gave up and went back by now.'

* * *

Yeah, I'm not going to make the 'Tenten in a shop' thing last any longer.

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	2. Chapter 2

Okay, two updates on day one.

I don't own Naruto

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It was only a short distance from where they were to a training area. It was obvious upon entering that it was her team's area. Target dummys were hanging from trees everywhere, each with several kunai sticking out. The trees themselves were chipped and beaten to the point where very little bark remained. There were also large divets in the grounds, though he could only guess how they got there. They walked a short ways in before stopping.

"Alright, I guess this as good a spot as any." Said Tenten. Kankuro removed karasu from his back and placed him on the ground, the bandages unwrapping themselves. Tenten walked around, studying it. Kankuro watched as she did this.

"You know, you won't learn anything about it like that." She turned towards him. "The best way to know about a puppet is by fighting it." He had no intention of showing her all of the weapons he had placed on him. But after watching her fight against his sister, he felt sure he could win without unleashing everything. Also, it was the best way to prevent her from finding anything out by accident. Tenten took a few steps back.

"Well then, I guess we should just spar." Tenten was going to enjoy this. She was getting sick of losing all the time, and unless that puppet had some ability to suddenly turn into a shield, then the idiot in front of her would never be able to avoid her attacks. She readied herself for what was about to happen, and watched as Kankuro attached chakra strings off of his fingertips to the puppet in front of him. "If your ready, BEGIN!"

They both stood still, waiting to see what the other would do. After a few seconds, Kankuro finally snapped, sending karasu forward, punching towards her face. He didn't dare draw the blades on it's arms. The tips were poisoned enough to kill in only a few minutes, and he DEFINITELY didn't want to kill an enemy ninja before the invasion. Tenten dodged the sloppily performed punch, before jabbing a kunai into its joint, preventing the arm from moving. The puppet's head turned towards her before shooting out several of it's own kunai. At close range, it was impossible to dodge, so they all hit their mark. The only problem was, what they aimed at then turned itself into a log. Kankuro looked around him, trying to find out where she could have gone to. A ridiculous number of weapons came flying out of a nearby tree, forcing him to jump backward, pulling karasu over to him in order to block the ones he couldn't dodge. He heard a voice from the tree.

"Your holding back!" He couldn't see her, but he could tell she was angry.

"Most of it's weapons are poisoned." He said, calmly. "You would have about five minutes before you died a painful death if one even scratched you, and I don't carry an antidote."

"What! How can you even call yourself a ninja! If you use poison, your supposed to carry an antidote in case you hit yourself or a teammate."

"I didn't exactly plan on fighting today. I only grabbed karasu out of habit." He needed to keep her talking. He needed to know where she was before he attacked. Otherwise, he would just end up losing another arm.

"If you weren't planning on fighting, why is his arms poisoned?"

'Bingo'

Karasu flew directly towards the tree. He knew exactly where she was. However, before it reached its target, a sudden gust blew it off course.

'Shit'

"What the HELL are you doing!?" Temari screamed, walking towards him. Not only had she found him after he ditched his job, he also broke the only standing order they were given.

"Don't worry, I have a perfectly good explana-"

"Did you pay attention at all to what Baki said about not showing off before the exam? This is Neji's teammate, for god sakes!" He had to hand it to her. She may have been angry, but she still had enough presence of mind to realize not to blow the plan.

"I wasn't going to use-"

"We're going back, but first..." She turned towards the tree. "Get out." A clearly nervous Tenten dropped down.

"Temari, I swear I didn't know he wasn't-"

"Oh no, I'm sure you two just met after I talked to you and figured 'hey, lets try and kill each other.' Seriously, was this some kind of revenge on your part? If your so weak that you have to go after HIM, stop calling yourself a shinobi." With that, she grabbed Kankuro and dragged him off, as Tenten was too angry to speak.

Baki heard the noise come down the hallway, but was still surprised when the door suddenly burst open. Temari had managed to kick it hard enough that it came off one hinge and left a fairly large crack in the wall. She came in, dragging her brother behind her.

"I finally find this idiot and he's fighting a leaf with his puppet. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to make sure Gaara doesn't kill anyone. No promises for me, though." And with that, she turned and left, leaving her brother to fend for himself. He looked over at Baki.

'This won't end well.'

"In three hours, you managed to break every rule put on you. I guess there's no point reasoning with you, so I'll stick with the next best thing. I'm taking karasu until the final stage." Kankuro's jaw dropped. "I hope I don't have to remind you about the importance of the exam."

"Well no, but-"

"Then it's settled. Give me your puppet." Kankuro was nervous, but didn't see any point in arguing. He grudgingly handed over karasu, with a kunai still sticking out of a joint in one of his arms.

* * *

Thank you to _Love Jacob Black_ for adding to favorite story list

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	3. Chapter 3

Okay. I apparently lied when i said the chapters of this story would be short. oh well, that's probably a good thing

I don't own Naruto

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It felt strange to not have a weight on his back. It amazed him that there were people who were just normally like this, all of the time. Not from his squad, of course. Temari's fan was much heavier than karasu. He wasn't sure about Gaara's gourd. He was more than a little afraid to touch it.

So once again, he found himself wandering down a street, with no real destination. The only good thing to come from the previous day was that he didn't have to watch over his brother anymore. Temari took over the job. Of course, now that that was settled, he was bored out of his mind. However, it wasn't long before he saw someone familiar. Coming out of the hospital was the girl he fought the day before.

'Why was Tenten there?' He thought. He made his way towards her, which wasn't too hard, since she was walking fairly slow.

"So, what were you doing there?" He asked, causing her to spin around in surprise.

"Oh, well, I wanted to check up on my teammate, Lee." He remembered the name. He was probably the second most powerful person there, but was unlucky enough to end up fighting the actual most powerful. "Also, the doctors wanted me to come in anyway, seeing as your sister gave me a concussion. So, where's that puppet? What happened after she dragged you off?" She asked.

"Oh, yeah. It ended up getting taken away until the exam, which sucks. And by the way, it's name is karasu."

"Well, since I can't actually study the thing, I guess you'll just have to tell me about it." Her answer surprised him more than a bit.

"That wasn't the deal, and you know it." She rolled her eyes.

"Technically, our match got interrupted from before, so you still owe me."

"I don't owe you anything. There's nothing to stop me from backing out of it now."

"So then, what are you going to do right now?"

He drew a blank. He had absolutely nothing to do. Everything had been planned out since they got there, so that they wouldn't risk being overheard. She could tell he was trapped.

"Well then, you have nothing to lose."

That wasn't entirely true. If he was careless, then he would end up saying more than he wanted to about karasu. But then, he wasn't really expected to do much fighting once the invasion started.

"Okay fine, but why do you want to learn this stuff so much?" The look on her face turned more serious as she answered.

"I need to improve. I'm not sure if you noticed, but I am the weakest member of my team. By far. In fact, even some of those rookies looked better than me." This was only partially the truth. She did need to improve, but she had another reason. She had wanted to learn more about chakra strings since she saw Kankuro's match. The wires that she used were effective, but they took a long time to prepare, and could be spotted and cut fairly easily. However, the idea of being able to attach them easily in a moment was too good to pass up.

"Alright, I guess that works. I'll teach you some of the basics. But then we're even. But since I don't have karasu anymore, its going to be a lot more difficult. Is there somewhere we can talk?" She nodded.

"My apartment is just a few blocks away."

"Apartment? You live alone?"

"Yeah. Don't really have a family or anything, so I have my an apartment." He noticed the sadness in her voice.

"Right. Sounds good, lets go." He said, wanting to change the subject.

* * *

They reached it in only a few minutes. They walked in, and what he saw surprised him. It was far from a normal apartment. The walls were covered with weapons of all types. In one corner, there was a large number of scrolls, presumably empty. In the center of the room was a workbench of some sort, which was apparently also used as a table, along with a few wooden chairs on each side. It amazed him that this place could possibly be owned by the girl in front of him. Tenten sat down on one of the chairs and looked at him.

"Different than you were expecting, isn't it?"

"I figured there would be a few weapons but THIS," he raised his arms "seems a bit like overkill." She chuckled a bit at that.

"I tend to go through weapons pretty quickly, so I try to keep a few extras around."

"A few! That's a bit more than an understatement!"

"You saw me fight. Do you have any idea how many I used against Temari? A lot more than are in this room."

"...Right, lets just get started." Kankuro sat down across from Tenten, wanting to get this over with. "How much do you know about chakra strings?" She shook her head.

"Nothing." He sighed. At least now he had something to do until the attack started.

"Well, you can't control a puppet without them, so I guess I should start there. Can you hand me a kunai?" She reached behind her, grabbing one off of the wall. She handed it to him. He raised his arm, and then let go. Instead of falling to the ground, it hung in the air, a few inches away from hand. She looked closely, and could see a small, blue string connecting it to his fingertip. "Since your just starting out, you'll need to physically touch the object before you can attach a string to it." He twitched his hand upward, flipping it back into his hand. He then handed it to her. "First, focus your chakra onto your hand. Then, send it outward to the kunai. Try to keep the area that your doing that at as thin as possible, or you'll just be wasting chakra. Of course, if it's too thin, it won't be strong enough."

She held it for a few seconds with her eyes closed. Then, over the table, she flipped her hand over. The kunai fell downward. It was going slower than normal, but she couldn't force enough chakra to completely stop it. It landed softly on the table.

"Try using more chakra."

They continued like this for several more hours before she finally got it right.

"Okay, what's next?" Asked Tenten, exhausted. Kankuro eyed her for a moment.

"Next, you keep practicing. It's worthless to make the string if you need ten minutes to prepare beforehand. No one is ever going to give you that much time in an actual fight." He looked out the window. "It's getting dark, so I need to get back. We'll pick this back up tomorrow."

* * *

Day 2

"So, whats it like having your team be your family, anyway?" Asked Tenten.

"Oh, well, its annoying. You probably noticed that Gaara tends to go a bit overboard. Usually, it's like babysitting someone who could kill you in a moment. If Temari wasn't there to help, I don't know what I would do. What about your team?"

"Well," Started Tenten, thinking for a moment. "I got kinda unlucky with my team. Gai is nice, but he's also strange and likes to push people well past their limit. The only person that could ever keep up with his is Lee, which I guess is why he normally leaves me and Neji to ourselves. Neji's powerful. Of course, he's also a bit demanding sometimes, with all of his 'fate' speeches. Sometimes, I think that's why Lee is so determined to beat him. I just try to stay out of it."

"So then, what about your family?" He asked. He knew it was probably a sensitive subject, but he still was curious.

"No idea. They showed up here with me when I was little, then left. I don't know if they're dead or alive." He noticed the kunai on the string start to fall, like there was nothing holding it. She caught it before it hit the table. "Of course, I don't really care. If they didn't want me, why should I want them? Besides, my team's my family now."

He couldn't tell if she was telling him or herself.

* * *

Day 3

Her skill with the strings had increased since the previous day, so instead of Tenten's apartment, they went to her teams training area instead.

"Okay." Started Kankuro. "You can make the string, so I'm going to show you how to actually do things with it. Can I have a kunai?" Tenten removed a kunai from her pouch and threw it to him. "First, attach a string like before. Then, throw it, and use the string to direct it." As he said this, with a slight flick, he threw it. It flew, curved around a tree, and hit one of the dummy's. "Your turn." He turned, curious as to how she would do. She pulled another kunai out of her pouch and held it in her hand for a second before throwing it.

Tenten had a lot of experience using wires to direct her weapons; thus, her kunai hit it's mark on the first try. "Done. What's the next step?"

Kankuro just stood, surprised. He expected her to do better at this step than at the first step. However, he never thought that she would succeed on her first try.

"Good. I guess there's only two more steps before you can start with an actual puppet."

"What's that?" She hadn't expected anything else.

"Well, next, you need to learn to form the string out of your fingertips." She understood that; until then, she had been making the string come out of her palm. It was easier, since that was where the tenketsu was located.

"And then?"

"Then you need to be able to create and control several at the same time. It's extremely difficult to control a puppet with only one string."

* * *

Day 4

"So, what are you going to do if you become a chunin?" She asked, not knowing how much it was weighing on him.

Before, when the people here were just nameless imbeciles, he couldn't have cared less whether they died or not. This mission was just another job he was asked to do, no different from anything else his father sent him on. Now, he wished that the day wouldn't come. Having gotten to know this girl in front of her, her past, her dreams, heard her talk about her teammates, her friends. Seen how much she cared about this village, her home, he dreaded the day. The time when he would be forced to fight, to kill these people.

"I haven't really thought about it." He said, softly. She stopped and looked at him.

"Is everything okay?" She said, concerned. He tried to recover as quickly as possible.

"Of course. Why wouldn't it be." He hoped it sounded convincing. He could tell immediately that it didn't.

"You don't really seem like it." She said, watching him more closely now. She knew there was something that he wasn't telling her. And she didn't really like the idea. After all that she told him.

She wasn't really sure why she had told him half of the things that she had. After all, she barely knew him. She wondered if it was just because he actually seemed to listen, or if he was just someone convenient to talk to her and would leave her life before he ever told anyone.

"It's kinda complicated. Right now, we're having trouble supporting ourselves as a village. Not only that, but the Kazekage has been doing a lot of weird things to try to get us back to normal." He had to tell her something, and saying a half truth was much easier than just saying a complete lie. Of course, he just hoped that she wouldn't try to press to far into what his father was doing.

"...Oh." She wasn't sure entirely what he had meant by that. But then, if he wanted to talk about it, she felt moderately sure that he would.

She went back to trying to get the wires to come from her fingertips instead of her hands. It had proven to be much more difficult than she was expecting. She couldn't even imagine the effort that it would take in order to create multiple of them and actually control something with it. However, one thing Tenten knew for sure.

She would never get that far while Kankuro was still here.

* * *

Kankuro went back to the hotel at the same time as normal. However, one thing was definitely out of the ordinary.

Normally, Baki wasn't waiting for him to come in.

"You've been talking to much." If Kankuro wasn't surprised by his presence, he was never expecting this.

"You were watching me?"

"And have been for the last few days. I didn't think I had to remind you that you were one of the most important people in this mission. Your presence is essential. Hers, however, is not."

Kankuro didn't like how this was going.

"I will warn you now, and not again. You can't afford to form any attachments to this place. End whatever this is between the two of you now. This mission is of the utmost importance to Suna's existence right now. If you can't end this, then you will force your father to become involved."

* * *

YAY!!! SUSPENSE ENDING!!! CAPS LOCKS ISN'T ON, I'M HOLDING THE SHIFT KEY AND IT'S STARTING TO HURT MY PINKY!!! AND I'M PROVING I'M AN IDIOT SIMULTANEOUSLY!!!

Okay, serous time now.

I would like to thank rara, tammy, Love Jacob Black, and narutofan1091 for the reviews.

I would also like to thank narutofan1091 for adding this to his favorite story list.

The next ones will probably be around this same length. With any luck, anyway.

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	4. Chapter 4

OK, another chapter down, even longer than the last one.

Believe it or not, I don't own Naruto. Shocker, I know.

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"So, what exactly are you going to have to do?" Asked Tenten.

Kankuro had rehearsed this to himself several times, but was still unsure of whether he should go through with it. He had been bouncing back and forth, convincing himself of either way several times. One minute, he would decide that he would go with Baki, and not see her again until he actually had to. Then, he would decide that, screw it, if she was going to die either way, he should just ignore him and try to spend as much time with her as possible beforehand. Than, he would convince himself that he would blow it if he stayed with her, and that his village came before anything else, before reconsidering that in the end, the village only had three more days to go, and that Baki or his father couldn't possibly care enough to do something about THIS before then.

Needless to say, he hadn't slept much. If it wasn't for his paint, she would have been able to see the bags under his eyes.

"Oh, well, you see, Temari kinda freaked out on me again yesterday, since she had to watch Gaara for the last few days, so now I'm going to be stuck with him." At this moment, he simultaneously felt two things. One was a certain degree of relief that Gaara hadn't actually heard any of that. The other was regret that he had chosen that as his decision.

"Alright. So then, can you tell me what the last step is, in case I don't see you again before you go."

"Oh yeah. Just do the same things you did with the one kunai, but with multiple." And with that, he turned and left. She watched him, as if waiting for something to happen.

There was something that was ultimately unnerving about that last comment. His tone of voice sounded, well, sad, which didn't really seem to suit him. She thought about going after him, trying to catch up, but before she had a chance, he had faded into a crowd.

She stood staring for a few more seconds, before heading off. She had her own training to work on, anyway.

* * *

Kankuro had almost everything planned out. But there was one thing that he, and apparently no one else, had ever bothered to think about. Downtime. The same thing that had caused everything had now been the one thing he had forgotten about. He couldn't go out and risk being seen by her alone, or she would have found out his lie. Of course, at the same time, he had no intention at all of being with Gaara. In essence, he had just locked himself into a small room for the next few days. Normally, he would have at least been able to open up karasu, take him apart, put him back together, and do it over again. He had done this several times, and could practically do it in his sleep. Now, however, he couldn't even do that.

He watched the ceiling, all 176 tiles of it. He had counted it at least three times so far, and it was starting to drive him insane. Eventually, in defeat, he got up and left. He had managed to spend approximately forty-five minutes in the hotel before giving up and forming a new plan.

If he couldn't stay there, he would just wander, like he had before, when he actually did ditch Gaara. And if Tenten ever see him, then he would just say the same thing that he did the first time.

* * *

She had managed to, with hours of practice, make no progress at all. It surprised her entirely that, after all this time, she still couldn't do what he had done effortlessly so many times. Sure, she didn't really use chakra much outside the basics, but it still amazed her that she was this BAD with it. Frustrated, she turned and left.

She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to at the moment. She hadn't really felt that hungry, but it was around noon, and she really didn't have anything else to do. She went towards the restaurant that was closest by, a small tea shop. Or rather, stall. She went around the corner, only to see someone already at the counter, someone she hadn't expected.

And someone that obviously didn't see her.

She snuck up directly behind Kankuro and reached up, slowly, towards his hat. She grabbed it by it's ears and, quickly, yanked it off of his head. He spun around, only to see HER, Tenten, standing directly behind him, holding his hat in her hand.

"Well, looks like your hard at work watching Gaara. Jerk." Said Tenten, obviously annoyed. He had to say something.

"Yeah, I ditched him again." She stared at him for a few seconds.

"...You realize that Temari will probably be more pissed at you now than before, right?"

He tried to think of a response. Luckily, he came up with something.

"No she won't, because she won't find out. She ran into him by sheer chance last time. I doubt that will happen. With any luck, anyway. And give me my hat back!"

She took a step backward, holding it up. "What, this? Why do you even where this, anyway? There's no real functional purpose in it, anyway." He dove towards her for it, but she moved to the side, causing him to miss completely.

"There is no 'functional purpose' in it. It's just a hat. It's called style." He finally managed to get it back, and unceremoniously put it back on his head. "Maybe someday you'll actually gain some, too. Seriously, buns and the worlds most generic ninja pants, mixed with the same sandals that everyone else wears. C'mon, your the most generic looking person I've ever met."

He regretted those words as soon as he uttered them. The look on her face quickly changed to a completely unemotional expression, which served to unnerve him more than he had thought that she ever could. She took a step towards him, and he quickly took a number back.

"You know I was joking, right? Of course I was." He chuckled to himself out of sheer nervousness. "You knew that. You're not really going to kill me, right? Tenten?"

She reached into her pouch and pulled out a weapon scroll. "Well, let's see, I suppose I don't really want to kill you, so don't worry so much." She said this in a surprisingly happy tone, which suddenly switched to a much more sadistic voice. "I'll injure you just enough that you won't need to go to the hospital." She opened the scroll, and probably would have continued had she not heard the voice of an obviously nervous tea shop employee.

"Sir, do you want your tea, then?" They each turned, and the man appeared to shrink back a bit. In his hand was two cups, which confused both of them. Kankuro decided to take advantage of the opportunity.

"Of course I will." He fumbled around his outfit, looking for money.

He wasn't entirely sure what force on earth or heaven had helped him out, but he was grateful for it. When he had went to the counter, there was a woman already there. After hearing her order, he simply told the worker, who was obviously new and probably only temporary for the sake of handling the sudden burst of people who had entered the village, that he would 'have that, too.' Either the kid was an idiot, which was a distinct possibility, or he somehow didn't hear the word 'that.' Regardless, by some form a fate, he was now holding two cups of what turned out to be really low-quality tea.

"Kankuro, why did you order two cups?" Said Tenten, utterly confused. Apparently, and Kankuro once again was forced to thank some unknown force, she had seemingly forgotten about his earlier comment. He did what seemed like the best possible option at that moment. He lied.

"Oh, well I was just going to go over to that place that you were when I thought, 'hey, I'll bring her tea.' Then I came here, had my hat stolen, and you tried to kill me." She took one of the cups, but kept staring at him.

"I thought I told you, I wasn't going to KILL you, I was just going to cripple you a little." She took a sip from the cup in her hand before sitting down at the bench in front of the stand. He silently sat next to her.

It occurred to him, at that moment, that he had no idea if what he was doing was smart or stupid. If he was somehow caught, then Baki would have to know this was just random chance, wouldn't he? He wasn't entirely sure if Temari would say anything if she saw them, but if she showed up, then he had a bigger problem to deal with, namely that their was a good chance that Tenten would try to kill him again. Or rather, 'cripple' him.

"So, do you usually come here?" Tenten shook her head.

"No, it was just close by." She looked at the cup. "And now I think I know why I don't."

Kankuro hadn't taken a sip yet, so her comment scared him a bit. "Is it really that bad?"

"Well, if I had to choose between this and, say, dirty tap water, I may have to flip a coin." He looked back to the cup in his hand. It didn't actually look that bad, and so, despite what she said, he had to try drinking it. He regretted it, instantly coughing it up. He could hear Tenten laughing.

"You baby. It's pretty awful, but it's not that bad."

"Not that bad! This stuff is barely even tea!" He threw the cup towards against a nearby tree.

"Jeez, you didn't have to do that." She walked over to where he threw the cup and grabbed it before walking back towards him, throwing it into a garbage can along the way, along with her own. "So then, what now?" She didn't really want to go back to the training just yet.

"Well, I still don't know this place that well. Mind showing me around?" She looked at him, curious.

"You've been here for almost two weeks and still don't know the place? What were you doing all of that time?"

"In case you forgot, there's this thing called the Chunin exams going on here. It's kind of a big event." She rolled her eyes.

"Liar. Your just trying to stalk me." Kankuro stood up, slowly.

"Oh really. Than please explain why your the one who snuck up on me."

"Please explain why you were buying me tea when I found you."

"Because...I..." He wasn't entirely sure how to respond. He obviously couldn't tell her the truth, that he didn't actually mean to, and that the idiot (He was sure by now that this was it) at the counter had gotten his order wrong, and that he was hoping to continue avoiding her. At the same time, he definitely didn't want to lose to her. However, it looked like he was trapped.

"Don't worry, its okay. Stalker." She got up and started to walk off, before stopping a short distance away. "You know, I can't show you the village if you don't follow me."

* * *

"And over there's the Hokage's Tower. Of course, if you couldn't tell that, your a complete and utter idiot." Said Tenten, pointing towards the largest structure in the village. "And those creepy faces in the rock are the Hokage Monument. Each of the faces is a different Hokage." He looked at them closely. He had seen them several times in his stay, but he wasn't entirely sure what they were of. Looking back, he felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner.

"So, when they run out of room on that mountain, what are they going to do?" He asked, knowing full well that they would never get to that point.

"I'm not entirely sure. To be honest, I plan on being dead then. They'll probably start getting rid of the less important one's heads, or maybe they'll just make them smaller. It's hard to say."

They kept walking around the village, Tenten pointing out the various shops, stores, houses, and businesses along the way. They made their way in this manner up to the mountainside itself. There was a set of stairs at the base of it.

"These go up to the top of the monument." Said Tenten. "The view up there is amazing. C'mon, I'll show you." Before he could protest, she started to sprint up the stairs.

"Great. Worlds largest staircase." Mumbled Kankuro, following her up, but at a much slower pace. When he finally reached the summit, a few minutes later, Tenten was already waiting for him, sitting at a bench viewing the entire village.

"God, that took you long enough. I've been here forever." Said Tenten, mockingly.

"You also sprinted." Said Kankuro, sitting next to her on the bench. "It's not like it was a race or anything."

He looked out onto the village. From the height, the village looked even bigger than from the ground. He realized that he really hadn't been shown much of the village at all. In fact, he doubted he was even shown half of it.

"Isn't this view amazing? Whenever I want to get away from the village for a little while, I like to come up here. It's always quiet up here."

He watched her carefully as she said this. He saw as her expression went from her normal self to becoming much sadder, almost depressed.

"Are you alright?" He said, not entirely sure what to say.

"Sure I am." She said, doing her best to smile. "Why wouldn't I be?" He knew those words were a lie. He had used them himself, and it hadn't worked. She seemed to know that he saw through, because she started speaking again, no longer smiling. "...It's just that, when you leave here in a few days, will you remember me? Will I even see you again? Or is all this, just something weird that's happening in my head? My own thoughts? Or is this something more than that?" She looked directly at his eyes. "Kankuro, do you...what do you think of me? Really?"

He hadn't been expecting that, and honestly had no idea what to say. "I-I don't really know, to be honest. I hope I see you again." He knew he wouldn't. "I know I won't forget you." That was true. "I wish I knew what I thought about you." She seemed fairly satisfied with the answer. She moved closer, leaning against him. He glanced her for a second before returning his gaze over the village.

* * *

He returned to the hotel a few hours later, after dark. He had no idea what he should think, now. He had thought, previously, that what he felt towards Tenten, if anything, was just simple friendship. But something about her that day, something about her, the person, rather than her, the ninja, seemed...different. He couldn't really explain it, but for some reason she stayed on his mind, always on his mind somewhere, and for the first time since his arrival, he stopped thinking of the time he spent with her as killing time.

And for the first time so far, he questioned whether the invasion was really a good idea.

* * *

And this one is done. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  
(I have to stop writing at midnight)

Thanks to tammy for reviewing.

and to the anonymous reviewer aaa for writing nejiten repeatedly. I tried counting, but gave up at 550. Almost feel like there should be a reward for actually counting.  
almost.

(I think this chapter may have single-handedly doubled my word count.)

Read and review


	5. Chapter 5

Took way to long to write this chapter. Oh well.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

She was late.

She was never late.

Kankuro's mind drifted briefly back to his conversation with Baki. It was amazing, thinking that it was less than 48 hours ago. What he had said scared him a bit, now. But then, he couldn't have known about him and Tenten, could he? Even if he had followed him the first time, then he would have stopped then, and would never know that they actually met up later, wouldn't he? It was almost an hour after when they normally met, and his nerves were wearing thin.

'Just five more minutes, then I leave." He thought.

The exams were only a day away, so this was his possibly his last time with her. She would definitely show up. Even if she was physically attacked, then someone is bound to have heard something. No, there must be a reasonable explanation.

Tenten did show up, eventually. 'I wonder what he will think about this? I hope he's not mad.' She had just finished telling Lee about it. He had been extremely happy for her. So was Gai, and though Neji was noticeably less so, she was expecting that.

"Hey, Stalker!" He turned towards the noise. Their was only one person who had ever called him that.

"Tenten! Your late. And stop calling me stalker." He had said when she was closer.

"It's a perfectly good name for you. Besides, I have a reason for being late."

"Oh, really. How is stalker a perfectly good name?" She rolled her eyes.

"You respond to it, but that's not the point. Kankuro, I got a letter. Its from my Dad! He's wants to get back in contact. He's just a short distance away." His eyes widened from shock. Then he regained his composure.

'Don't worry, I'm sure this is just an unlucky coincidence.' "So, when are you going to go?" He had to know when. If it was after the exam, then it was just coincidence. If not, then he would end up convincing himself it was coincidence.

"Well, he wants me to meet him tomorrow, so I guess I'll be leaving in the morning. I'm not entirely sure when I'll be back, but either way, I'll miss the exam."

"Really?" He said, trying his best to not let the fear enter his voice.

"Yeah, here's the letter." She said, handing it to him.

It didn't take long before all of his fears were confirmed. He recognized Baki's handwriting instantly. He hadn't even made an attempt to hide it, which concerned him more than a little. He read through the note several times, hoping he missed something, or that something would change, or maybe even that it would suddenly disappear. No such luck.

"Well, what do you think?" He wanted to say something, to tell her about everything that was happening, but would that really help? He knew perfectly well how completely outnumbered these people were. She was definitely not going to be safe here. She wouldn't be safe at whatever this trap was, either, but at least she might have a chance.

"Yeah." He said after a long pause. "Yeah, it's great. Hope it goes well. Do you want to start back with your training, then?" She pouted.

"You won't let me avoid it for today? I mean, this might be our last day together, why spend it with me failing?"

He really wanted to get her as ready as possible for what she didn't know was about to happen, but he knew he would never convince her. "Well, I guess we should be celebrating, shouldn't we?" He knew now perfectly well that, even if he didn't notice, he was still being watched. If he was going to tell her anything about what was about to happen, then he had to be careful about it. He had to be extremely subtle, but somehow still get her to realize that it was a trap, and that she had to spring it. He knew that he couldn't tell her everything, but he still hoped that he might be able to get the key points across.

"Well, I guess so, but..." She stepped closer to him. "...I thought it would be better if it was just us." Her answer both surprised and relieved him. He would have thought that she would have wanted to be with her team, but if he was alone, he could convince her much easier.

"Do you have any idea of where to go, then?" She thought about it for a few moments. Kankuro finally caught on. "So, you don't have anywhere in mind, do you?"

"No, not really." Admitted Tenten. She was relieved that he wasn't upset about it, but then, why would he be? There was something about him the seemed off, as if he was...afraid? No, she reminded herself, it had to have been her imagination. "Want to just go to my apartment, then?"

He realized pretty quickly that was probably his best option. It would be easier for him to talk to her if they were there, and it would be more difficult to spy on the two of them there. "Yeah, that's fine."

* * *

"Huh, I forgot just how many weapons were here." Said Kankuro, making a quick glance around the room. He had been watching the area more than normal. He hadn't noticed anyone that appeared to follow them, but then, he hadn't the other times, either.

"Well, it's the same as always." Said Tenten, giving him a funny look. She was positive that something was bothering him. The way over, he had barely even paid attention to what she had said, and she noticed him staring directly at a number of people. He had constantly been looking over his shoulder, and she had no idea what to make of it. Surely, nothing could have changed since the day before, could it? "Do you mind if I ask you something? You seem, different, today. What happened?"

He cursed silently to himself. "Nothing happened, I just have a really bad feeling."

She didn't really buy it. "Oh really, you got a bad feeling, so you suddenly started checking over your shoulder. Kankuro, I know you better than to believe that."

"Know me? We met less than a week ago!" It didn't really feel like it was such a short amount of time. He knew full well that it wasn't the best argument to make, and that she wouldn't take it well.

"Don't even try that! You're lying, and you know it! If your in some kind of trouble, tell me. What's the worst that could possibly happen?" She was clearly annoyed with him.

"I'm telling you, it's nothing! And I hope that your ready when your meeting happens!"

She was taken aback by that. "What do you mean by that! Please, tell me whats going on! I have a right to know!"

"I just told you, nothing is happening right now!" He lowered his voice a bit and spoke slower, choosing his words carefully. "But I sincerely hope that when something does, your ready. And that when, not if, when, things start to go wrong, your prepared for it. Something is wrong about that meeting, I can promise you that. Trust me, something about that isn't right. If he really wanted to make contact, then why didn't he do it sooner? Why wait until the exam, which would be possibly the worst time for you to go out there?" This wasn't the kind of subtlety that he was expecting from himself, but he hoped it still had the same effect.

Tenten stood, shaking with rage. Did he have any idea what this meant to her, this meeting? She had been dreaming of this her whole life, and he had the NERVE to say that? "Leave."

"...What?"

"I SAID, GET OUT OF MY APARTMENT!!!" She screamed, causing him to wince.

* * *

Kankuro couldn't believe what he had done. But then, he said everything that he could. It was entirely on her now. He was quiet for the rest of the day, actively avoiding everyone and everything. It was sad that that would probably be the last time he saw her, but he couldn't go and see her again. It couldn't end well, and there was a good chance that his last memory of her would be worse than it already was.

* * *

And another chapter down. SWEETNESS

Thank you to Tammy for the review

Thank you to Nyomi Owahama for adding this to her favorite story list!

Read and review


	6. Chapter 6

Alright, another chapter down.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

The first thing that Kankuro noticed when he woke up was karasu. The puppet was lying in the middle of the main room of their hotel, with a note attached. He noticed that the kunai from his first encounter was still sticking out of the puppets arm. He grabbed the note and read it quickly.

_Kankuro,_

_ Repair your puppet, then head to the arena. We will be waiting for you inside._

_ Baki_

He grabbed it, then headed into his room and prepared his tools, before examining the arm carefully. The wires inside had been completely severed. The blade itself was lodged inside of a gear, stopping it from spinning. 'Well, she definitely had an eye for detail.' He yanked the kunai, which came out with a dull thunk. He started to replace the wires inside when he realized a new problem. The gear had a large crack running through it where the edge had been. He sighed, realizing that this would be far from the quick repair he had hoped for.

* * *

Tenten tried to mentally prepared herself for the trip ahead of her, but her mind kept drifting back to her last conversation with Kankuro. How could he possibly be such an ass? Still, it seemed so...uncharacteristic. 'Gah, why am I even thinking about him right now! I have more important things to think about.'

She wasn't really sure what she would say when she finally met her father. It seemed amazing that it was finally happening. She watched the gapes swing open for her before walking out, taking a look back towards Konoha on her way out. She had a weird, unexplainable feeling in her gut at that moment, causing her to pause. Then she turned back and kept walking, trying to forget it.

* * *

It felt good to have karasu on his back again. He had never fully gotten used to it's absence. Now, however, the weight seemed to put his mind at ease, to a degree, and help him focus on his mission.

He ran into the arena. As he had expected, Temari and Gaara were already there. He walked in between the two of them and looked at the crowd. The entrance had only been opened a few minutes earlier, but there was still quite a few people there.

"Took you long enough." Said Temari without looking at him.

"Blame Baki."

* * *

Tenten walked towards the small, seemingly deserted house. Her father had explained, in his letter, that he had been unable to find a hotel in the village, but that a kindly old man had allowed him to stay with him, just a few miles up the river that headed into Konoha. However, now that she saw it, it definitely didn't seem like anyone lived here. Or had, for many years. Still, she stood in front of the door, closed her eyes, and knocked. There was a reply almost instantaneously, but not from inside.

"No one lives there. Your wasting your time." Said a mocking tone behind her. She turned quickly. There were two people standing behind her. The one on the left had a strange, claw-like weapon strapped to his arm. She had dedicated her life towards weaponry, but was positive she had never seen anything like it before. The other one had a scar going over one of his eyes, and his limbs seemed horribly disproportionate to his body. On his back was a container with what appeared to be a net sticking out.

"Who are you?" She demanded. Something was definitely off about them. For one thing, she hadn't heard them come up, which meant that they probably had some form of stealth training. For another, they were too far away from a road for them to just be random travelers. And, judging by the weapon on the one's arm, they were obviously some form of ninja.

"We're the Fuma." Answered the one with the claw. "And your Tenten, correct?" She readied herself for whatever was about to happen. They knew her name, and she was positive that she never met either of them.

"I guess so. We were ordered to kill you. And we intend to," Said the scarred one, "regardless of how many weapons you use."

They stood staring at each other for a few moments. There was a large bang; she couldn't tell where it came from, but it started off their attack.

* * *

He had to hand it to him, Shino was better than he thought, to be able to sneak up on him. Still, he had merely been careless. No matter what happened, the kid was doomed. It looked like it would actually be worth using karasu's full power. He saw him jump out of the poison cloud. At first, he seemed to have avoided it. Then, however, he began to wobble.

'bingo.'

* * *

She removed another weapon scroll while jumping to the side, narrowly avoiding being hit be the blade. Instantly, the spot she had once been standing on was covered in weapons, which Kamikiri narrowly managed to dodge.

However, before she could get a moment to rest, she was forced to dodge once again as the other man, Jigumo, threw a number of shuriken towards her. She ran towards where she had thrown her weapons earlier and grabbed a katana off of the ground. She then used it to block a close range attack from both of them. Then, letting go, she moved backwards. As she expected, the two both charged forward, giving her the opportunity she needed. She pulled her arm backwards. It was then that they noticed a chakra string going directly between them. The sword she had let go of only seconds before was now flying directly towards them, blade sideways. She had managed to attach the string in those few seconds it was in her hand, since she hadn't yet managed to attach them from a distance.

She knew they would never block it in time. But then, an arm came out of the ground, blocking it moments before impact. A man then fully appeared out of the ground, hunched over on all fours.

* * *

'Damn.'

His main weapon, or more precisely, only weapon, had just been completely crippled. It still amazed him how careless Shino was with his minions. So far, he had ended more of their lives than Kankuro had. And now, karasu was stuck.

She saw the man slash towards her with the claw on his arm. She had ducked to the side, but at a price. Her right arm now had a fairly large gash in it, and was starting to bleed. She could feel the ground beneath her start to cave in, forcing her to jump into one of the nearby trees. Despite her effort, she was wearing down. She needed to get away, fast. She turned and started sprinting downstream, towards Konoha, towards help. She could see the two from before following shortly behind her, and knew the third was somewhere underground.

She saw a number of trees in front of her start to collapse. She stopped for a second, before turning to the side. She would regret her pause.

* * *

Kankuro detached the head, circling it about before revealing the poison tipped needle. The gas had spread, and they both knew that Shino was in no condition to dodge the strike. He could feel the bugs chewing the wires, knew his position had been found, but he didn't care. Once it made contact, it would all be over. He could see Shino's brow furl through the puppet's eyes as he realized that the bugs wouldn't finish their work in time, and that even if they did, the head had enough momentum to stab him.

She ran towards the river, hoping to cross it, going around the damage before continuing. However, one of them, Kamikiri, had caught up with her. She turned just in time for the blade to smash into her gut. He removed it with a yank. She could see blood dripping off of the edge. She stood for a moment, not entirely realizing what happened. Then, she fell backward, directly into the river.

* * *

'Tenten.'

The thought suddenly crossed his mind, coming from nowhere. However, the shock, as well as the overwhelming sadness that seemed to stem from it, froze him for a second. Then, Kankuro cut back to where he was, and realized that he had, without realizing it, suddenly stopped karasu's head inches from it's target, so close that some of the poison from the needle actually sprayed on his glasses. But before he could recover, he felt the string detach itself as the beetle's finished. He was forced to watch, in horror, as his last chance for victory fell limply to the ground.

* * *

Tenten floated softly to the bottom. She just looked straight above her, as the vague, blurred image above her seemed to fade, being covered in a veil of wispy red. It took her a few seconds to fully realize what it was. Blood. More specifically, her blood. She knew about the wounds, but she couldn't feel them anymore. She had no idea about the conversation going on above her.

* * *

"Well, she's dead, lets just grab the body and be done with it." Said Kamikri, holding out his arm, blood still dripping from the edge.

"No." He turned towards Kagero as she rose from the ground. "All we need is the proof that we finished. And we have that." She said, referring to his arm. "There's no reason to carry the body back."

* * *

Tenten closed her eyes, wondering what would happen. She could feel herself starting to drift downstream. She wanted to think that she let the current carry her, but in reality, she probably couldn't move if she wanted to. She knew that no one back home would look for her. After all, as far as they knew, she was perfectly safe at the moment. It would probably take weeks.

Then, she felt something overtake her, and everything went black.

* * *

Alright. Bit shorter than I had wanted, but still good.

I would like to thank:

Tammy for the Review

Neji for President for adding this story to the 'Story Alert' list

Read and Review


	7. Chapter 7

Alright, Chapter 7 is finally up. After three different rewrites, its up.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

It had been two weeks since they returned to Suna, but Kankuro still didn't feel like he had recovered. He was physically alright, he knew that, but somehow the knowledge didn't seem to help ease his mind at all. He tried to think of any possible reason for feeling like he did, but eventually was forced to the conclusion he already knew he would come to.

Tenten.

Something about the name, about any thoughts towards her, delved him back into his depression, made him freeze in place. Temari was the first to notice the problem.

_"Baki had told me about what happened. I-I'm sorry." She had said. He could tell she meant it. There was something about her eyes as she said that. "But...you don't know for sure that anything happened to her. She may still be okay." She was trying her best. He could tell that, but it still didn't help._

_"Temari, I appreciate the effort and all, but it really doesn't help." Her face turned downward. "Something happened to her, I can feel it."_

She never did give up. She had attempted, on several occasions, varies 'remedies,' all of which failed miserably. But it did get him to finally admit one thing.

He really had loved her.

He wasn't entirely sure how it had happened. It was such a short period of time, barely even a week. But whenever it was, he not only loved her, but killed her, as well. As a ninja, he wasn't even supposed to show emotion, let alone any strong attachments to enemy ninja. In that regard, he was a more than a bit of a failure. Still, it couldn't have been helped, could it?

But now she was gone. That was what he had the most trouble with. The concept that, despite what she had accidentally become to him, she was gone, and he was to blame. Not Orochimaru. He wished that he could blame him, the man who killed the Kazekage, who orchestrated the entire attack, but couldn't. Orochimaru hadn't been the one who had caused her to leave. He, Sabaku no Kankuro, did that. If he had done almost anything different, not talked to her, had forced her training a little more, or even just told her straightforward about what was about to happen, she never would have left, never been vulnerable. If she had just stayed in Konoha, with the rest of the genin, she would have survived.

Instead, it was his own fault.

* * *

Tenten slowly opened her eyes, looking around carefully. She was lying in a strange bed while wearing some form of gown in an eerily white room. Outside of a nearby window was some form of village. Looking closer, she could clearly see several signs of damage covering the buildings. On the ground, several people seemed to be milling about, slowly. She could not in any way tell whether or not she had died. She heard a door open somewhere, followed by a voice.

"Feeling better, I see." A man walked into the room. Instantly, her mind raced. She recognized his outfit as being a medical ninja from Konoha. She must, therefore be in a hospital, hence the gown and the room. But then, could this possibly be... there? What could have happened in such a short time that it looked like THAT? Or was it a short time? How long was she out? "Just relax, okay?" Said the man, seeming to read her mind.

She laid back on her bed. "How long have I been here? And how did I get here?" He held a chart in his hand. She could see him making a number of notes.

"You've been out for around two weeks." He started. "Gai carried you in. He's probably going to want to talk to you now that your awake. In fact, quite a few people are going to."

"Well then, what happened? Is that...really Konoha?"

He lowered his gaze a bit. "Yeah, it is. While you were gone, well actually, the day you left, the village was attacked."

She remembered, before her fight with the Fuma, having heard an explosion, but she hadn't really thought about it, having focused on the two in front of her. 'So, I guess that was here.'

"During the attack, the sound and sand villages assaulted the area from inside and out, killing several people, and causing the damage you saw."

Tenten's eyes widened at that. 'Suna...Kankuro, did you know? That last day, when you told me to be ready, did you know!?'

"During the attack, I am sorry to be the one to break the news, the Hokage fell. However, he was since been replaced by Tsunade, one of the three sannin. She was the one who healed you."

Tenten really hadn't heard much of what he had said, being wrapped in her own thoughts. 'You...you really were warning me, back then, weren't you? I mean, you really did try to help me. But, why couldn't you have just told me? It wouldn't have been that hard. It was just us, all those days. Or was that just...something that you had to do? Were you...using me?' She tried not to think about that, but then reality smacked her. 'I'm such an idiot! I learned absolutely NOTHING about you, and I told you everything! About Neji, Lee, Gai, all of them! And what did you say, nothing. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! I didn't even get a chance to examine that freaking pile of scrap, because you said that it was taken. And I believed you!'

She then heard something loud; loud enough even to break through her own thoughts. Gai. "Tenten!" The man practically raced into the room. "MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT IS FINALLY AWAKE!" She covered her ears. She had learned that doing this tended to bring his volume level down to a reasonable level. And while to a casual observer, it may look like she was annoyed at his presence, she was actually extremely happy over it. She really wanted to talk to someone, someone that she could trust. The medic walked off, allowing them time alone.

"That guy said that you brought me in, so...thank you." She wasn't really sure what she should say. She wanted to apologize, but wasn't really sure what to say. "How did you find me, anyway? I mean, I doubt that anyone was looking for me." She could see his eyes change from their normal self to something a bit more serious.

"We didn't look for you. You showed up yourself." The confusion on her face was clearly visible. "That is, you floated here, down the river." He paused. "Of course, I assumed something was wrong. But due to the villages state, I was unfortunately unable to come to your aid." She could tell it wasn't easy for him to talk about. But then, it wasn't that easy to hear, either. "After the funeral for our Hokage, as well as numerous others, I was at the bridge when I noticed the water starting to turn red. Identifying something floating, I went to examine it. You could imagine my surprise to find my student."

* * *

She finally was released from the hospital. It took almost four hours of questioning, but she was finally out. During that time she was asked everything from what had happened after she left to what she did beforehand that would make someone target her, to almost every conversation and event regarding the time she had spent with Kankuro. And afterwards, they had reached the exact same conclusion that she had.

That during that time, she had been completely used.

That during that time, she was being tricked into spilling as much about the village as possible.

That during that time, she had completely fallen for it.

There was no doubt in her mind anymore, just anger. She had, during the questioning, slowly grown to hate everything that even vaguely made her think of Kankuro. The man who had fooled her entirely, and that she even, yes, she finally admitted, had LOVED, had been lying to her the entire time. She could imagine him, leaving her for the day, returning back to his family, amusing them all with the stories of that idiot who couldn't even make a simple string out of chakra who had so completely fallen for his lies, and who had told him about almost everyone in the village. Who had as good as given him a map of the village. And this thought, this mental picture of him laughing, only served to make her even angrier. By the time she had finally walked into her apartment, she had worked herself into such a frenzy that the first thing she did was grab, and throw, the seat he had sat in those days out of the window, nearly hitting someone who was walking past.

* * *

Well, only two more chapters to go. The next two should come quickly (Which, by most fanfic's standards, is pretty freakin' ridiculous.)  
It's not that they are really short or anything. It's that, when i first started this story, I only imagined a few scattered parts (Originally, it was Yoroi, instead of the Fuma), and then I just sorta connected them together. These last two were actually the main part. So...yeah.

I would like to thank:

Tammy for the review (You really should create an account)

KohakuOtaku and mangagranatcat for adding this as a favorite story

KohakuOtaku and NightmareSyndrom for adding as a story alert

Read and Review


	8. Chapter 8

I don't own Naruto

* * *

Kankuro sped through the woods as fast as possible. Moving fast helped him to forget, staying one step ahead of his thoughts. He focused himself entirely on this stage of his mission, doing his best to not concentrate on what would happen after it.

Eventually, he reached his target. He had managed to position his puppet in the way just before Kiba was stabbed. Then, he directed karasu's arm outward. The target didn't seem overly concerned, until he noticed the blade shooting out of the arm. He instantly shot backwards. However, before he could continue, he heard Kiba's voice.

"BEHIND YOU!!!" To any normal person, this cry would have come way to late to be helpful. However, he had come prepared. The man, if it even was a man, punched 'Kankuro' directly into the head, grabbing it.

It took forever to realize his mistake.

The real Kankuro jumped off of the fakes back, revealing it to be yet another puppet. Specifically, it was kuroari. He had been meaning to get it back into fighting shape for awhile. In fact, repairing it was one of Temari's first suggestions upon returning to Suna. She had hoped, at one point, that by keeping him busy, he wouldn't think of Tenten.

It failed.

The thing attempted to remove his hand, but it was no use. Kankuro quickly used kuroari's arms to stab him. However, instead of killing him as planned, he just merged with the other enemy.

"What's with them?"

"That's their ability." Answered Kiba. "These guys aren't your normal enemy. We should retreat for now."

Kankuro smirked. "You better not be underestimating me. I can't leave just yet."

He sent karasu charging forward. However, in the man's haste to dodge it, he completely ignored kuroari. Tripping backward, he fell directly inside of him. The doors sealed, leaving him trapped. Then, slowly, Kankuro disassembled karasu, letting the parts float for a minute before sending them crashing through the slots in kuroari's body. Blood dripped through every possible crack.

"So, you lost to HIM!" Kankuro said, turning around. Then he realized just how deep the wound on his stomach was. "We should probably get that fixed, and then get moving on to Konoha."

Kiba laughed, obviously delusional from blood loss. "You wouldn't be in such a hurry if you knew what Tenten had planned for you." Kankuro froze.

"She's ALIVE!" The words poured out of his mouth before he even got a second to think about them. "Wait...what exactly do you mean 'what she has planned for me?'"

"Well, what you did has become pretty much public knowledge at this point. From what I heard, she's completely pissed at you. I've also heard a lot of different variations of her plans, most of which involve the removal of certain specific body parts."

'She's alive.' Was all Kankuro could manage to think.

* * *

Kankuro sprinted as fast as he could. Granted, he probably should have stayed at the hospital like his siblings, watching over the idiots, but he didn't care. To him, this was much more important.

He reached Tenten's door and knocked, making sure to stand well to the side. If what Kiba told him was true, then she would never open her door if she knew it was him. And on the off chance that she did, it would be followed shortly by a literal barrage of weapons. However, after a few moments of nothing, he knocked again. He did this a few more times before deciding, finally, that she wasn't there. Disappointed, he ran to the next spot on his mental list.

The training ground. If she was angry, she was probably going to vent some of her frustration, so it was a definitive possibility.

Upon reaching it, he realized that he was both right and wrong. While she was NOT there at the present time, it was obvious that she had been there. The dummy's that littered the area were literally covered in weapons. For a few of them, the rope holding them up had snapped, unable to hold the immense weight. He turned and left, slightly afraid of what might happen when he finally found her.

The Monument. She had mentioned that she liked to come here, to 'get away from it for awhile.'

He sprinted up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. He almost tripped several times before bursting upon the top.

Only to find it empty. The spot that the two of them had once sat now lay completely vacant. He walked over and sat down, staring at the village. He had checked everywhere that he could think of, but that apparently wasn't good enough. He tried to center himself, to think. He tried to come up with ideas of where she could be, when it hit him.

The hospital. How could he possibly have forgotten that both of her teammates had been on that mission? He stood up and started back down the stairs.

However, before he could reach his destination, he was unexpectedly interrupted. As he ran down a street, a kunai was thrown directly in his path. If he hadn't heard it, he probably would have been hit. He turned towards the sources.

Tenten, an extremely angry Tenten, was staring directly at him.

"You." She started walking towards him. He stepped backwards, trying to keep his distance. "What are you doing back here!" She demanded. He fumbled for a minute.

"I'm here because we're allies. Tenten, please stop, I can explain everything!" She reached behind her back.

"'Explain everything,' huh? I know exactly what your going to say. I loved you, you BASTARD!" She yanked a scroll out, holding it in front of her. Kankuro was getting desperate.

"I swear, that isn't what happened!" He paused. "I really wanted to warn you before! And I regretted not doing it ever since! You have to trust me, I really didn't want anything to happen to you!" She paused for a minute before stretching the scroll in front of her out.

"No, I don't believe you. How can I, after all of that?" A kunai appeared in front of her, which she grabbed. "If that's really true, I'm sorry, but I can't trust you anymore."

"Yes you can! Just think about this for a minute! I really didn't want for you to get injured!" He stopped, letting her continue towards him. "Tenten. Believe me that I didn't mean for that to happen."

She stopped directly in front of him, kunai in hand. She looked back and forth between his eyes and the edge of the blade. Then, finally, she let go of it, letting it hit the ground. However, before he could say anything, she ran off. He watched as she sprinted away, but didn't follow, still confused over what had happened.

* * *

Only one more left

Thanks to Tammy for reviewing

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	9. Chapter 9

MAN THIS CHAPTER IS SHORT!!! Seriously, i really should have just merged this with that last one. Oh well, too late now. But seriously, this took longer in my head.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

Tenten ran through the village, confused. She had been so angry. This whole time, she had been so angry, remembering everything that had happened. She had been imagining everything that she would say, that she would DO, for the last few days.

And now, confronted with the source, she did nothing.

She had tried to, but couldn't. There was something in his eyes that stopped her. He had seemed so...positive the entire time. There was something about it that said that he was honest, and she was wrong. And yet, how was it that even possible? He had tried to kill her!

She eventually forced herself to stop, hoping that he hadn't followed her. She sat down, trying to collect her thoughts. She heard someone appear next to her, and looked up at them.

"You should have just killed him when you had the chance, Shino."

The boy stood in front of her, staring. She couldn't read his face through his glasses.

"I didn't kill him because he wouldn't didn't kill me." He said.

"What do you mean?" She was now more confused then before.

"He could have stabbed me, and didn't. I returned the favor."

"...But that doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't he have left you alive? There really isn't anything he could have gained from it."

"I can't answer that. I can only tell you that he did."

Tenten would have kept questioning him, if she hadn't heard her name. She turned towards the source, watching as Temari ran towards her. She braced herself for the worst, only for it to never come.

"Tenten, there's something that you need to know." She announced. Tenten only stared at her as she said this, so she just continued. "It's about Kankuro. I wanted to talk to you about this before you did anything. Shikamaru told me about what you think happened between you two."

"Then shouldn't he be here, too?" Temari waved the comment off.

"Listen, because I'm only going to say this once. Kankuro loves you." _And why, I'll never know._ Tenten just stared emptily at her. "Back then, when you guys were together, when he was helping you train, you two were being watched." Tenten's arched one of her eyebrows, obviously not believing her.

"If we were followed, then why didn't he say anything? He could have signaled, or anything."

"Because he didn't know, at first. That time, when he ditched you to 'watch Gaara,' he was trying to protect you." It seemed that something that she said finally managed to get through. "But then, you ended up finding him again. And he's an idiot, so I guess that he just decided to go along with it. Trust me, when you got that note from your 'dad,' he was as surprised as you were." Tenten's gaze lowered.

"But, why didn't he just say something?" Temari was already getting sick of hearing that question. If she asked it one more time... "I mean, he could have at least TRIED to signal it." Close enough.

"ALRIGHT, YOU BAKA! THATS IT! I'm not doing this for YOUR sake, I'm doing it for HIS, GET IT! I don't give a DAMN about YOU! Now SHUT UP and PAY ATTENTION!" Tenten shrunk back a little, afraid.

* * *

Kankuro sat down, still in a daze from his previous encounter. His mind raced through their meeting, considering every aspect of it.

_She didn't kill me, so that's good, right? I mean, she still attacked me, but she didn't go through with it, so I'm good, aren't I? But then, she still ran away. So, is she undecided right now? If I see her again, what will she do?_

He was so wrapped in his own thoughts, that he had no idea of what was occuring around him. In fact, he didn't even snap out of it until he heard a low, familiar thud. A kunai was embedded in the ground next to him. He knew who it was without looking.

"So, are you going to kill me?" He asked, standing up. Tenten walked up to him, scroll in hand.

"No. I'm just going to cripple you a little." He watched as an awkward smile formed across her face. "And don't make me regret it."

"I won't."

* * *

Against all of his hopes and dreams, the day finally came. He, along with his siblings, were being booted out of Konoha. Or at least, it felt like that. The truth was that they no longer had any valid excuse to keep staying there. The three stood just outside the gateway identifying the outer edge of the village. Looking back, his teammates were talking to Shikamaru, along with a large number of academy students.

He, on the other hand, wasn't paying much attention. His focus was on something else. Behind the group, watching from a distant rooftop, was the woman he had spent several days with. He knew, without even being able to see her clearly, what the expression on her face would be.

* * *

"_So, your leaving tomorrow, then?" Asked Tenten, disappointed._

_ "Yeah, it looks like it. I'm out of excuses to stay, and if we don't leave soon, then Suna might end up sending out a search party."_

_ She leaned farther into him. "Then, I guess this is goodbye."_

_ "..Yeah."_

_

* * *

_

Then, following his family's lead, he turned, leaving the village behind him.

At least, for the time being.

* * *

OK, this story is done.  
**_OR IS IT?  
_**Yes. Yes it is.

Oh, and one last thank you.

Tammy and Nocturnal Owl-Dragon for the reviews

Nocturnal Owl-Dragon for adding to story alerts (A bit late, though)

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	10. Epilogue

Alright, I did it.  
I was debating whether or not to add this in at all, since it didn't really seem to mesh in with the rest of the story. But it really wasn't oneshot worthy, and I had it in my head and had to do something with it. So against my better judgement, I'm posting it, despite this story technically being complete.

This is entirely Tenten's thoughts, by the way.

I don't own Naruto

* * *

_If he doesn't get himself killed, I'm going to kill him._

_ Seriously, he didn't even have a puppet with him! Or a weapon! It's like suicide. I mean, Temari can protect him, but doesn't he realize what a burden he'll be?_

_ I was so worried about you! I thought you were going to die! In fact, you would have if Sakura hadn't shown up._

_ I really can't repay her for that._

_ I thought you were about to die, and you decide to go out there AGAIN! Do you really think you can help Gaara in your condition?!_

_ Are you trying to get yourself killed?!_

_ Are you trying to get in everyone's way?!_

_ Are you trying to prove something to yourself?!_

_ Are you..._

_ Are you trying to leave me alone?_

_ No, I shouldn't think like that. It's...it's not fair to you._

_ I know that your trying to do your best. I know that you aren't thinking._

_ I know you're not going to die._

_ But, are you really going to keep trying to do stupid things like this?! You remember that you're...going to be a father soon, don't you? And you know that I know about as much about any of this as you do, right? I...I can't do any of that without you._

_ What am I thinking!_

_ You're coming back, whether you want to or not._

_ Temari will make sure of that._

_ She always does._

_

* * *

_

_ You're coming back._

_ I knew you would._

_ I just wish that I could see through this crowd._

_ The entire village is watching you, can you tell? So don't do anything stupid._

_ Is that...Gaara? So, you found him alive after all. I was afraid for him, you know._

_ Almost as much as I was for you._

_ Why is everyone so quiet? If he's alive, who's the funeral for?_

_ ...So, she died, huh? I didn't really know her, but she tried to help you._

_ I'm sorry, Chiyo._

_ Did you manage to help after all, Kankuro. Tell me that you did._

_ I don't want to be right about that. Your better than that._

_

* * *

_

_ So, you were too late, after all. I'm sorry._

_ But, your okay, and so is Gaara. That's what is really important._

_ That your still here._

_ But next time, don't do anything that stupid._

_ Or else, you'll be leaving me alone again._

_ And I can't be alone._

_ I know that you'll have to go out again someday._

_ But try to think of what is behind you next time._

_ You have me, and you will be having a child soon, too._

_ So don't rush out without thinking again._

_ Especially without talking to me first. Seriously, why did you leave without saying anything? Did you think that I would stop you?_

_ Though honestly, I probably would have._

_ But next time, tell me yourself, instead of making me hear it through Baki._

_ Actually, make sure that there is no next time._

_ Because I'm still here._

_ Because I will miss you again._

_ Because I can't take care of a child on my own._

_ Because I love you. _

_

* * *

_

It really is over this time! I swear! Really!

Read and Review_._


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